KEVIN KILROY, MFA
As a 14-year educator experienced with a range of progressive institutions and diverse learners, I aim to utilize my education expertise and authenticity in my field to cultivate lifetime learners with a passion for literature and creative writing. As a published novelist, poet, playwright, and co-founder of several literary presses, I am self-motivated, organized, and in touch with the publishing industry. In the classroom I am confident in my subject while always enlivening the material through my passion. I connect with students’ lives, interests, and most importantly, their educational needs. I work to tie in their efforts with a larger story—I work to make their learning meaningful. I am looking to find a progressive, independent school to call home.
EDUCATION
Naropa University
MFA in Writing & Poetics 2005
Critical Dissertation: “Radiophonically Yours: The Possibilities of Radio Art”University of Kansas
- At this Buddhist school founded by Beat poets Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman, I learned my most important lesson and my most significant artistic practice. From my mentor, Laird Hunt, I learned how to approach every text, artwork, and human with an openness that encourages it to be itself. From my Contemplative Poetics course, I learned how to integrate meditation into my writing practice. I bring both of these skills with me to the classroom.
BA in Philosophy 2001
Areas of Concentration: Literature, Architecture, Urban Studies
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Kansas City Art Institute
Lecturer – First-year Writing, Creative Writing, The Beat Generation, 2016 – current
History of Thought I & IIThe Barstow School
- Design progressive curriculum and teach writing, literature, and philosophy courses customized to the learning and education experiences that best suit artists.
- Teach creative writing to high schoolers (2 years) through the Pre-College Art Lab.
Social Sciences and Higher Learning Consortium Faculty – Ancient World History, 2014 – 2018
AP Human Geography, AP Psychology, YearbookTribeca Flashpoint College
- Designed progressive curriculum and teach social science courses in-house and online.
- Promoted to Freshmen Dean, working one-on-one with students and families to guide and serve their educational experience.
Faculty – Creative Writing, Composition, Humanities Survey 2008 – 2015Columbia College Chicago
- Recognized for leadership, organizational skills with promotion from adjunct to fulltime Professor and Coordinator of the Humanities Department at this hands-on school offering associates and bachelors degrees in media arts/digital media fields.
- Planned and implemented curriculum changes, managed team of adjuncts, chaired committees, oversaw budget and initiated interdepartmental efforts.
- Designed humanities classes examining the intersections of art, culture, and urbanity in Chicago.
Lecturer – Beat Literature, Introduction to Literature, Frist Year Writing, 2007 – 2011
New Millennium StudiesMalcom X City College
- Taught English to high schoolers for two years in the BRIDGE program.
- Taught innovative Writing & Rhetoric curriculum, engaging students in ethnography.
- Studied pedagogy with the Center for Innovation in Teaching Excellence.
Lecturer – Composition 2006 – 2010Front Range Community College
- Coordinated assessment of learning as the Exit Exam Coordinator
Lecturer – Composition 2006
ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE
The Barstow School
Freshmen Dean 2017 – 2018
Character Education Committee 2018
Yearbook Advisor 2015 – 2018
Club Advisor (multiple) 2015 – 2018
Tribeca Flashpoint College
Core Studies Curriculum Development (from school’s inception) 2008 - 2015
Humanities Department Chair 2012 – 2014
Curriculum Committee 2013 – 2014
Writing Across the Curriculum Chair 2012 – 2013
Literary Arts Journal Advisor 2011 – 2013
Malcom X City College
Exit Exam Coordinator 2010 – 2011
Columbia College Chicago
Campus Anti-war Network (CAN) Advisor 2008 – 2010
RELATED EXPERIENCE(SELECTED)
Pembroke Hill Upper School
Capstone Project Mentor 2019 – currentAcadémie Lafayette Dragons
- Mentor Senior on their capstone project investigating adventure and firsthand experience through critical research and creative writing.
- Read, workshop, and advise on his creative manuscript—the culmination of his project.
Coach 2018 – currentChicago Tribune’s Nelson Algren Award
- Facilitate and coach 2nd grade girls soccer, instilling confidence, fitness, skills, and positive life lessons.
Fiction Judge 2014 – currentThe Writers Place
- Read, discuss, and select for this prestigious literary award.
Board Member 2016
Chicago’s Annual Printers’ Ball
Small Press Curator 2013–2015Another Chicago Magazine
- Designed, procured, and presented an array of journals, books, and ephemera from literary presses spanning across the country.
Assistant Fiction Editor 2012 – 2014Requited Journal
- Read submissions and selected fiction for this established Chicago literary journal.
Drama Editor 2009 – 2011Black Lodge Press
- Co-created journal and edited the drama section.
Editor & Co-creator 2005 – 2010
- Founded and developed small press business to publish fiction and poetry; work included discovering manuscripts, editing, design, fundraising, marketing, distributing, promoting.
STUDIO RESIDENCIES
Charlotte Street Foundation Artist in Residence| Kansas City, Missouri 2018 –2019
825 Studios| Kansas City, Missouri 2017
Madi’s Lingerie| Kansas City, Missouri 2016
The Writers Workspace| Chicago, Illinois 2015
Tigermen Den Artist in Residence| New Orleans, Louisiana 2015
The Northwest Tower| Chicago, Illinois 2011 – 2013
PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS(SELECTED)
The Monadnock poems
manuscript
Hypnosis in the Unbuilt City triptych novel
manuscript
Judith Beheading Holofernes novel
manuscript
Dead Ends or Laughing Gas poems
Spuyten Duyvil 2017
“For Joanne Kyger,” “Alien-laced” poems
Dispatch Editions 2017
“The Event of Rouen” poem
Masque & Spectacle 2017
The Escapees novella
Spuyten Duyvil 2016
“Humboldt Park” story
Akashic Books 2016
The Escapees reading
Blood Jet| New Orleans 2016
Laird Hunt’s Neverhome interview
Chicago Humanities Festival 2016
“The Art of the Short Story” panel
Printer’s Row Lit Fest 2015
“Patron Saint” reading
Café Ipsento 2013
“Stan” story
Poets and Artists: Chicago Issue 2012
“Tribute to Akilah Oliver” reading
Outer Space Studio 2011
“For Andrew Peterson” reading
Red Rover Reading Series 2011
“Sherlock Holmes, my Favorite Drug User” essay
Philosophy and Sherlock Holmes | Open Court Books 2011
“Preface to the Factory of Nychthemeron” poem
Onedit 2010
“Ginsberg’s New Left Poetics” panel
Poetry Unfulfilled | University of Chicago 2010
“1781” story
Fact-Simile 2009
“The Mysteries of Transportation” interview
Hot Whiskey Magazine 2008
“Kerouac’s Spontaneous Narration in Pull My Daisy” panel
Beat Studies Symposium | Columbia College Chicago 2008
The Silence of Malachi Ritscher play
Theatre 5.2.1. 2007 five-week run
“Four Buildings on Mardou Street” poetry chapbook
Black Lodge Press 2006
GALLERY SHOWS
“Two Histories of the World” collaboration
Hyde Park Art Center| Chicago 2012
“Fusion 2” collaboration
Square Deal Gallery| Denver 2008
CONFERENCES
Hybrid Learning Consortium 2016 & 2017
Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) 2009 & 2012
Chicago Humanities Festival 2009 – 2013 & 2016
LANGUAGES
English–native language
Spanish–speak, read, and write with basic competence